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The Invention of the Jewish People (review)

The Invention of the Jewish People (review) The invenTion 2009. 332 pp. This book has been promoted as "an international bestseller" that demolishes all previous connotations of the Jews as a people. Shlomo Sand approvingly quotes the French historian, Marcel Detienne, "How can we denationalise national histories?"--and this seems to be the motivation behind the work. It proceeds from the thesis that generations of academic historians have got it wrong, that Graetz, Dubnov, Baron, Baer, Dinur, and others were so influenced by the times in which they lived and the societies in which they dwelled that they unwittingly served the malign designs of unscrupulous politicians. Perhaps all writers are fashioned by their epoch to some extent, including both Sand and this reviewer; however, all professional historians struggle against this tendency from a sense of academic integrity and responsibility to their readers. Yet Sand characterizes many as intellectually unworldly and ever willing supplicants at the altar of Zionism. Departments of Jewish history throughout the world, it is argued, have seemingly been blinkered for a long time with crucial material secreted away in dusty archives until the publication of this work. The debunking is initiated by exploding "the myth of exile." Sand argues that there is no http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies Purdue University Press

The Invention of the Jewish People (review)

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Publisher
Purdue University Press
Copyright
Copyright © Purdue University.
ISSN
1534-5165
Publisher site
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Abstract

The invenTion 2009. 332 pp. This book has been promoted as "an international bestseller" that demolishes all previous connotations of the Jews as a people. Shlomo Sand approvingly quotes the French historian, Marcel Detienne, "How can we denationalise national histories?"--and this seems to be the motivation behind the work. It proceeds from the thesis that generations of academic historians have got it wrong, that Graetz, Dubnov, Baron, Baer, Dinur, and others were so influenced by the times in which they lived and the societies in which they dwelled that they unwittingly served the malign designs of unscrupulous politicians. Perhaps all writers are fashioned by their epoch to some extent, including both Sand and this reviewer; however, all professional historians struggle against this tendency from a sense of academic integrity and responsibility to their readers. Yet Sand characterizes many as intellectually unworldly and ever willing supplicants at the altar of Zionism. Departments of Jewish history throughout the world, it is argued, have seemingly been blinkered for a long time with crucial material secreted away in dusty archives until the publication of this work. The debunking is initiated by exploding "the myth of exile." Sand argues that there is no

Journal

Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies – Purdue University Press

Published: Dec 30, 2013

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